Hook.



.l. B. BAXTER. HOOK,

APPLICATION mar 00x29. 1915,

mm m Patentd Sept. 25,1917.

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Prnwr FTFMJ,

JOHN B. BAXTER, OF WATERVLiET, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO COVERT MANUFAC- TUBING COMPANY, OF WATEBVLIET, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

HOOK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 25, 1917..

Application'filed October 29, 1915. Serial No. 58,672.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, JOHN B. Baxrnn a citizen of theUnited States, residingat VVatervliet, in the county of Albany and mg and normally retaining in closed position the tongue of the hook.

In the art of snap hooks wherein, commercially, devices must be provided for sale at slight cost, and necessarily manufactured at minimum expense, much work has been done in simplifying the numberand formation of the parts while retaining adequate strength and rigidity of the ultimate article, primarily among which parts is of course the casting for the body of the hook, constituting the shank. and bill portions thereof. The special snap hook to which the present'improvements appertain is that general style embracing a casting having a shank and bill, a pivoted tongue in the nature of a sheathing adapted to underlie the end of the bill and embrace the sides of the shank, and a spring within the sheathing and between the tongue and the shank constantly exerting a pressure to throw the tongue into closed relation with the bill.

Turned over lugs, upwardly projecting flanges and lugs, locking pins and other means have been utilized to retain such springs, to which I have just alluded, in operative association with the other parts of the snap hook, but these structures have called for extra parts, relatively expensive castings both in the use of unnecessary metal and extra skill and means in the casting operation, and in instances, the spring retaining means are comparatively weak, while in other instances the parts are loosely assembled with the attending disadvantages contrary to the much desired elimination of unnecessary rattling or noise, especially in harness use.

With the foregoing in mind, my improvements have been inspired by an efiort to produce a snap book of a compact firmly held association of the fewest possible parts so related as to produce all necessary strength, expeditious and inexpensive casting and assembling, and devoid of undue looseness or playof the parts in the assembled product, all tending toward permanency, in preventing disarrangement of the cooperating elements, silent operation and general efliciency.

i The preferred embodiment of the invene -t1on includes the prov1s1on of a hook, the

shank of which along one edge, is provided with a receiving groove for the end of a wire spring said groove being of relative size to closely confine the spring permanently in place to prevent lateral play thereof, and preferably one wall of the groove belng shaped to exert a constant actlon 1n seating and retannng the sprlng permanently in its seat,-the foregoing, as distinguished from the provlsion of lugs or the like which require special casting,

are capable of easy breakage, and are so assoclated as to permit a play of the spring therebetween, or the escape of the spring by a slight movement to ride laterally thereover. In the lug construction also the end of the sprlng is exposed, and unless covered by some additional means as by a forwardly extending part of the sheathing, the ring or other engaged device may operate to dislodge the spring, whereas in my present improvements the spring is below the normal plane of the edge of the shank in which the groove is formed, and the ring cannot engage the end of the spring but simply rides over the edge of the shank below which the spring is confined as will more fully hereinafter appear from the specific description to be now given, in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, and wherein the above mentioned preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a c0mplete snap;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view, looking toward the pivot end of the device, and

Fig. 4 is a similar view, looking toward the bill.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, wherein like reference letters refer to corresponding parts throughout the several views, Arepresents the shank, B the bill, and G the ordinary attaching loop at the end of the shank. Above the shank constituting an integral part thereof, I form a spring seat D having a curved rear wall '13 and a side wall or base F, the latter being in the plane of the adjacent side of the shank. This side wall is perforated as at G for a purpose as will presently appear.

Formed in the upper edge of the shank and merging into the curved rear wall of the spring seat is a groove H for the reception of the end portion of acoiied wire spring I, sleeved upon a rivet J passing through the side wallof the spring seat, and having an upper end portion or extension 21 engaging the undersurface of a tongue K arranged to engage the bill of the hook at its free end, andpivoted at its opposite end upon said rivet, said tongue being of U-shaped cross .section, tapering rearwardly for obvious purposes, and constituting a sheathing for inclosing the spring and for overlapping the sides of the shank to guide thetongue at all times in its movement and prevent lateral play or strain thereof on the rivet to which the tongue is pivoted.

The groove H -'-n the upper edge of the shank has a vertical wall .12. the planeof the innerzsurface of the side wall of the spring seat, the groove being deepest immediately adjoining the wall just referred to,

and the other combined base and side wall formation tends to cause the end i of the .-spring, under its constant downwardly exerting pressure to ride lnto and be maintained in the deepest portion of .the groove adjacent to the vertical wall thereof, and the same also tends to prevent any lateral or canting movement of the spring, because as will be appreciated from the drawings, the

end of the spring'which is confined in this groove runs into the convolutionof the coiled portion of the spring immediately adjacent to the side wall of the groove C,s0 that the ,pressure of :the end of the spring in the Copies 0,! thispatent may be obtainedior desired, "without. exposing the end :of the spring to engagement :byzthes ring' or other .device'engaged :by the hook; Otherwise, as in the employment .of confining lugs with the incidental exposure .of :the end of the spring, said end must be housed :by :the hollow tongue to prevent-the ring or other device voverlapping zthe spring.

, While I have herein disclosed .one special embodiment of the invention, it willbe apparent to :persons skilled in .the :art that :the

innention 'is capable of embodiment in other.

forms and devices as vmay :be within the scope of the hereto, appended claim; 1 claim: I ,7 A snap hook of thecharacter described comprising ashank having an upwardly extending wall atone side, and also provided with a bill and spring actuatedatongue, the spring having a terminal adapted to engage [the shank and the upper surface of the shank being inclined from the normaluplane of said surface inwardly from the outer side edge of the shank to near ithe-oppositeside .edgeithereof :to constitute a :broad guiding faoeand seat, the deepest portionof the seat being located immediately adjoining the saidside wail of the shank so that the latter serves as an abrupt stop for the spring tervIninal in its travel down the inclinedsurface. In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

, JOHN :B. BAXTER.

WVitnesses G RGE H. LEE, MARGARET C. HAn'rNEY.

the Commissioner of Patents 

